Living in a city, it might be hard to keep up with a garden or have one at all. We understand that, but we aren’t talking about just full on gardening here — but rather cultivating plants, even a few potted ones around the apartment or home.
Here are some reasons why gardening is so good for us all.
Stress Relief
A recent study in the Netherlands suggests that gardening can fight stress even better than other relaxing leisure activities. After completing a stressful task, two groups of people were instructed to either read indoors or garden for 30 minutes. Afterward, the group that gardened reported being in a better mood than the reading group, and they also had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
It all has to do with how we’re paying attention to things during the day. We’re all just hitting out limits, and once we move past those limits, we get stressed out and irritable. Just think of all the things that require you during the day. Your phone. Email. Job.
It’s called “attention fatigue” and it isn’t too tough to reverse after a long day. Just gotta do something that requires “involuntary attention,” like gardening and our ability to enjoy nature!
Chalk it up to the uncontrollable rhythm of your natural environment. Like sounds, smells, things growing all around you.
Boosting Mental Health
Gardening can help with feeling sad and depressed.
In a study conducted in Norway, people who had been diagnosed with depression, persistent low mood, or bipolar II disorder spent six hours a week growing flowers and vegetables. After three months, half of the participants had experienced a measurable improvement in their depression symptoms. What’s more, their mood continued to be better three months after the gardening program ended.
The novelty and focus seem to be the major reason why this works, but there could be a chemical reason too:
Christopher Lowry, Ph.D., an assistant professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been injecting mice with Mycobacterium vaccae, a harmless bacteria commonly found in soil, and has found that they increase the release and metabolism of serotonin in parts of the brain that control cognitive function and mood—much like serotonin-boosting antidepressant drugs do.
Digging in the dirt isn’t the same as taking Prozac, of course, but Lowry argues that because humans evolved along with M. vaccae and a host of other friendly bugs, the relative lack of these “old friends” in our current environment has thrown our immune systems out of whack.
Neat. We’ll have to see more science behind this, but a totally interesting concept!
Exercise
No, it’s not going to replace a jog or weight-lifting. But it’s a perfect example of repetitive, low-impact, exercise. Plus, you’re way more likely to stick with it.
“It’s not just exercise for exercise itself, which can become tedious. It’s exercise that has a context, that reinforces the limberness of your limbs and the use of your hands. You’ve got a motivation for why you want to grip. You’re not just gripping a ball, you want to pull a weed.”
Brain Health
This one is awesome — there seems to be a link between gardening and avoiding dementia.
Two separate studies that followed people in their 60s and 70s for up to 16 years found, respectively, that those who gardened regularly had a 36% and 47% lower risk of dementia than non-gardeners, even when a range of other health factors were taken into account. These findings are hardly definitive, but they suggest that the combination of physical and mental activity involved in gardening may have a positive influence on the mind.
That’s incredible. City codes should make it mandatory that all living spaces include a garden, ha!
Nutrition
This one’s a no brainer.
What you’re gardening is going to be fresh and healthy. In fact, it’ll be the freshest food you can get. And, people who garden tend to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Studies of after-school gardening programs suggest that kids who garden are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables. And they’re a lot more adventurous about giving new foods a try.
There you go, guys! Garden away to a healthy lifestyle!
[Image via AP Images.]
-
Categories
